Pious Lutheran

The Recognition of Joseph by his Brothers , Peter von Cornelius, 1816 Being Merciful Joseph’s backstory and him showing mercy to his brothers after receiving evil from them Jesus shows mercy to us after receiving evil from us We are to be humbly merciful towards those who do us evil “ Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. ” That’s really hard to do. It is very difficult to get along with other people. To be fair, it’s really tough for others to get along with us. We can all be quite insensitive, rude, obnoxious, prideful, foolish, malicious, vengeful, antagonistic, and sometimes downright wicked to each other. Yet, in spite of the fact that sometimes we want to strangle somebody or slug them in the face, Jesus tells us to be merciful, even if they deserve a punch in the gut.  Old Testament Joseph is a good example of showing mercy to those who deserved no mercy. His brothers said to themselves: “ It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we di...

The Blind Leading the Blind,  Pieter Brueg, circa 1568 It’s a common misconception that Christianity is all about making people feel good about themselves. Right and wrong, truth and lie, forget about those things because they can offend, instead what matters is that people feel good about themselves. Afterall, Jesus said “ Judge not, ” therefore, Christianity is all about being nice.  But that belief completely misses the point of Christianity! Christianity is not just meant to make us feel good about ourselves, rather Christianity is all about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who gave up His life so that our sins may be forgiven and that we may live with Him eternally. It’s not about feeling good, it’s about receiving our heavenly Father’s mercy! The Father shows us mercy, and we in turn show that mercy unto others. Jesus did tell us not to judge others, however that’s not the main point Jesus makes today. The more powerful imperative Jesus says is: “ Be merciful, ...

Parable of the Mote and the Beam , Domenico Fetti, 1619                From Jesus’ well-known Sermon on the Mount, in which He teaches us a great deal about Christian living, He teaches us to: “ Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. ” This commandment to be merciful towards others hearkens back to the eighth commandment: “Do not bear false testimony against your neighbor.” Or as Luther positively put it, we are to “defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.”  Why do we do this? We show mercy to others because God shows mercy to us. Today in our sermon we will consider what it means to be merciful, how we’ve failed to be merciful, and how God is merciful towards us. Jesus says: “ Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned. ” Those words of Jesus often get mangled by many people to mean that we are never to distinguish right from wrong or good from evil. But that...

Jesus says: “ Judge not. ” Yet, the Lord spoke through the prophet Zechariah, saying: “ Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace. ” St. Paul later writes to the church in Corinth: “ The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ” Jesus Himself, later in His sermon on the mount, just shortly after saying ‘judge not’ says: “ Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. ” Since the Bible doesn’t contradict itself, clearly Jesus is talking about something a little different than what we typically assume. Jesus isn’t telling us not to judge between right and wrong, truth and lies, good and evil. Even at the most basic level, staying alive necessitates judging between the good and the bad. For example, the good is that my body should be healthy, the bad is that my body should be unhealthy or injured, thus when walk...

“ Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. ” Mercy is at the heart of Christian living. We ought to show mercy to others since our heavenly Father shows such mercy to us.   But before we even begin to discuss this mercy, we first need to dispel a common myth regarding mercy and judging. For decades, if not centuries, our gospel lesson has been misunderstood and misapplied. Christ says “ Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned. ” Yet, those important words are used by many today to reprimand and shame those who judge false doctrine or judge that certain people are living in sin. So often I hear preachers who cling to pure doctrine and reject all heresy accused of being loveless crazy men because Christ told us: Judge not! Condemn not!  But their accusation rests upon a false understanding of Christ’s words. When Jesus says not to judge or condemn, He is most certainly not commanding us to stop condemning false doctrine. A...